Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Yes, but Apple has a habit of also shafting its outsources, like what they did to the UK designers back in the ipod era: as soon as chip design could make them more money they disintermediated. And now deal direct with the foundry.

ARM holdings annoys me. I wish they hadn't stopped doing fab. The potential weakness for the West dependency on TSMC worries me.






> potential weakness for the West dependency on TSMC worries me

TSMC, in turn, outsources the entire front end of its value chain to its customers.

There is nothing wrong with outsourcing. Boeing is just bad at supply chain management.


I think all your other examples are healthier because each step has multiple customers. The Boeing/Spirit arrangement looks more like an accounting gimmick than actual outsourcing.

These factories in question build for three major Western manufacturers: Boeing, Airbus, and Bombardier.

How much though? Somewhere else in this thread someone said 67% of their revenue is from Boeing.

Did you confuse ARM Holdings with AMD/GlobalFoundries?

> Did you confuse ARM Holdings with AMD/GlobalFoundries?

No. ARM is fabless. That was an outsourcing innovation not too long ago.


What I was replying to said:

> ARM holdings annoys me. I wish they hadn't stopped doing fab.

~~I thought ARM was always fabless?~~ Edit: I guess I'm somewhat mistaken after reading up on VLSI Technology.


ARM were in a jv with apple and a us vlsi fab company. They decided royalties were a better bet longterm.



Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: